SIR GEORGE GREY AND THE PROPERTY TAX.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 140, 12 June 1880, Page 4

SIR GEORGE GREY AND THE PROPERTY TAX.

Under this heading some very severe letters are appearing in the Auckland papers. The following which was the published in the Star of 4th inst. may be taken as a sample :-— Sir, — Tou are supposed to know everything and to be specially au faiit in tbe councils of the so-called Liberal party; can you explain to aae how it has come about that Sir George Grey, tbe people's ohamp'on, the ani i-eapitalist, tbe great advocate of taking the burdens off the back of the people and putting them on the shoulders of the wealthy, has suddenly become the mouthpiece of the mon ied and property classes, while the so-called Conservatives, and champions of the landocracy, with reputed suspicious leanings towards great monetary institutions, are placed in tbe position of defending heavy imposts on the property, and a levy of between six aud Beven thousaud pounds a year on one of those very institutions which Sir George Grey accused of putting his opponents in power ? 1 have a very clear recollection that, when in office, Sir George Grey distinctly said that a property tax wopld be cheerfully paid if the wants of the colony demanded it and gushingly pictured every man as eager and proud to pay. his quota od his little garden patob. Tbe next story the patriotic gentleman entertained his admirers with, was that tbe Government never intended to levy tbe tax, but only used it as a blind to get through extra Customs duties and repeal tbe land tax, and this statement woi repeated at his Thames meeting; but now that there is evidence of, a determination to press the collection in earnest, th 9 graat pro-consul throws off the mask, and openly arrays himself at the head of the property and monied rings, and leads the charge full tilt against tbe imposition of a legitimate share of taxation; on property nnd doeß it (save tbe mark) in the name of tbe poor working man! Last eesßioo, tbe House, without a qualm, levied £300,000 in new duties, through the Customs, which alreddy was yielding nearly a million and a half to the Colonial Exchequer, and the people bave quietly submitted to this. It was only propesed to lay three or four hundred thousand pounds upon property and accumulated wealth which has reaped tbe whole advantage of the loan expenditure, and what a howl! Is it that the Knight of Kawau takes unkindly to. the hundred or two a year tbat will fall to his own sbare ? Even so, it is a little too much ,to insult the intelligence of bis supporters by telling thera that the working man will be the sufferer. How much will the working man be called upon to pay of tbe Kawau. assessment ? How

much will he pay of the £2,000 a-year property (as which one sheep king in Canterbury is assessed for ? How much will the working man pay of the £80 D-year which other nabobs bave to dub up in property tax for the privilege of living in £20,000 houses ? Some others of the Auckland phalanx have managed to get together a few tidy investments in the shape of land ; will they manage to screw the tax for that out of the working man ? Pshaw 'tia sickening. What is tho incidence of taxation now ? A man having 36250, 000 worth of property which the State protects and loans have improved, may contribute less to the revenue than a labourer earning his six shillings a day. The Property Tax will make such an one pay £1,000 a year. No wonder they howl. Another man doing a large business and living on the smell of an oil rag may hoard his gains and make them multiply by saving or by investments in property to be improved by the toiler who spends what he earns and has not a shilling over on Saturday night. And the perpetuation of this thing is Liberalism, is it? And the working man is taken for such a dolt as not to see through it ! Out upon it — if that is Liberalism, I'd rather be a Conservative, so long as Conservatism means submitting to sacrifices for the salvation of the country. In the "United Kingdom the wealth of the country contributed last year, in direct taxation by Property and Income Tax, no less a sum than £11.995 000 and from Customs only £20,000,000. But that is a place where the masses of the people are serfs, ground down by the monied classes.— l am, &«., A Radical, Bur Not a IjVol.